Very short note today due to various Father’s Day festivities, oh, and golf’s US Open with an exciting weekend ahead!
The news yesterday of Amazon looking to buy Whole Foods Market (home of “Whole Paycheck”) has a multitude of far-reaching aspects, all worth expanding upon in future “TGIF 2 minutes” editions.
- Amazon is known as an online retailer, now entering the “bricks and mortar” sector in a not-small way. What can we make of this?
- Everybody needs food (not necessarily from Whole Foods Market) and news of this acquisition is already sending its repercussions far into the food world including that of Kroger, Albertsons…and Wal-Mart.
- Groceries being sold online is not new– and although most grocery chains offer an online/pick-up or delivery service, evidence points to consumers preferring the live, in-store face-to-face (person-to-vegetable) shopping experience.
- Amazon opened an actual bricks and mortar bookstore in Seattle in 2015, over 20 into its existence online.
These are only four small, initial takeaways from the hundreds of news analyses available in the last 24 hours. My one striking observation is that the world of “have it in your hand technology” for most ALL aspects of our lives — including financial services and food — is here. In the case of Amazon’s $13.7 billion offer for Whole Foods Market, BIG money is being thrown around to give us more of an online experience. Although evidence is pointing toward a needed balance between “online” and “face-to-face”.
When it comes to food and money, two basic necessities of life, there is no doubt that this balance is a work in progress. And safe to say, when it comes to Father’s Day I am going with the live, face-to-face experience with my father-in-law!
Happy Father’s Day, as well, to all the wonderful fathers out there. Thank you for reading and TGIF!